Book Review: The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein
Extra-terrestrial beings from Saturn's moon Titan land in the midwestern United States. Resembling large slugs, they attach themselves to the backs of human hosts, controlling their every thought and action. Shortly after their vessel is discovered near Des Moines, Iowa, a team of special agents is dispatched to investigate.
Led by an inscrutable veteran known only as the "Old Man", agents "Sam" and "Mary" quickly find themselves facing an insidious and calculating alien parasite. As a result of its method of joining with its host, a law called Schedule Bare Back is eventually passed, dictating that all citizens must go topless. Women are allowed to wear bras, but no more.
During a meeting of the entire intelligence staff, all are ordered to strip down to the buff, revealing that one of the office assistants had been compromised. The "slug" manages to escape and eventually possesses Sam. Under alien influence, he quickly dresses and flees the agency--but not without a witness. Sam finds himself unwittingly assisting the aliens with possessing a key member of the US government in an attempt to get to the President himself.
Mary and the Old Man thwart the plot, but once apprehended and freed of his "master", Sam threatens to quit the agency. The experience was simply too much for him. He is convinced to remain when the Old Man informs him that a captured "slug" is to be interrogated. In order to do so, however, Mary agrees to become a host. Sam, now in love with her, objects and reluctantly takes her place.
Armed with the footage of this interrogation, the agents meet with the President of the United States. Alerted to this new threat, the President seeks out assistance from the UN. Meanwhile, more ships from Titan have arrived and nearly the entire midwestern United States has fallen under the control of the parasites. The military engages in active war with the invaders, but the aliens multiply at a phenomenal rate.
Can the agents devise a way to stop the "slugs" before the entire world is overrun? Who exactly is the Old Man and what is his relationship to Sam? Will Sam and Mary eventually find love in one another?
If your answer to these questions is "who cares?", that's about how I felt while reading this. The story felt like a mash up of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds, especially given the method used to defeat the aliens. While the plot barely held my attention, the characters were shallow. Even the Sam, the POV character, seemed to spend more time lamenting his situation and oscillating between passive-aggressive treatment of Mary.
Although written in 1951, the story begins in 2007 and while I fully understand how women were treated in American society of the mid-twentieth century, the patronizing, chauvinistic attitude of Sam toward the equally--and sometimes considerably more--capable agent Mary was embarrassing. Heinlein introduces her as a strong match for Sam, but by the end of the book, she is little more than a submissive female, bending to his wishes with a "yes, dear" every other chapter.
All told, The Puppet Masters proved to be one of Heinlein's weaker efforts, in my humble opinion. This was a book I had no problem putting down for weeks before picking it up again simply because I'm not inclined to leave chores unfinished. My recommendation: skip it.
Led by an inscrutable veteran known only as the "Old Man", agents "Sam" and "Mary" quickly find themselves facing an insidious and calculating alien parasite. As a result of its method of joining with its host, a law called Schedule Bare Back is eventually passed, dictating that all citizens must go topless. Women are allowed to wear bras, but no more.
During a meeting of the entire intelligence staff, all are ordered to strip down to the buff, revealing that one of the office assistants had been compromised. The "slug" manages to escape and eventually possesses Sam. Under alien influence, he quickly dresses and flees the agency--but not without a witness. Sam finds himself unwittingly assisting the aliens with possessing a key member of the US government in an attempt to get to the President himself.
Mary and the Old Man thwart the plot, but once apprehended and freed of his "master", Sam threatens to quit the agency. The experience was simply too much for him. He is convinced to remain when the Old Man informs him that a captured "slug" is to be interrogated. In order to do so, however, Mary agrees to become a host. Sam, now in love with her, objects and reluctantly takes her place.
Armed with the footage of this interrogation, the agents meet with the President of the United States. Alerted to this new threat, the President seeks out assistance from the UN. Meanwhile, more ships from Titan have arrived and nearly the entire midwestern United States has fallen under the control of the parasites. The military engages in active war with the invaders, but the aliens multiply at a phenomenal rate.
Can the agents devise a way to stop the "slugs" before the entire world is overrun? Who exactly is the Old Man and what is his relationship to Sam? Will Sam and Mary eventually find love in one another?
If your answer to these questions is "who cares?", that's about how I felt while reading this. The story felt like a mash up of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds, especially given the method used to defeat the aliens. While the plot barely held my attention, the characters were shallow. Even the Sam, the POV character, seemed to spend more time lamenting his situation and oscillating between passive-aggressive treatment of Mary.
Although written in 1951, the story begins in 2007 and while I fully understand how women were treated in American society of the mid-twentieth century, the patronizing, chauvinistic attitude of Sam toward the equally--and sometimes considerably more--capable agent Mary was embarrassing. Heinlein introduces her as a strong match for Sam, but by the end of the book, she is little more than a submissive female, bending to his wishes with a "yes, dear" every other chapter.
All told, The Puppet Masters proved to be one of Heinlein's weaker efforts, in my humble opinion. This was a book I had no problem putting down for weeks before picking it up again simply because I'm not inclined to leave chores unfinished. My recommendation: skip it.
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